Small Wine Importer Bludgeons Trump in Tariff Case

When President Donald Trump announced plans last year to raise the nation’s effective tariff rate to levels not seen since 1930, most CEOs remained silent.

When Victor Schwartz, the owner of small New York-based wine importer VOS Selections, stepped forward, he became the face of the fight to overturn Trump’s sweeping tariffs — and he won. (Photo: VOS Selections Facebook)

They had seen how opposing the president’s ambitions — let alone his signature economic policy — could prove even more costly than the policies he enacted, Elisabeth Buchwald reported for CNN.

With billions in annual revenue at stake, multinational corporations stayed on the sidelines.

But Victor Schwartz, the owner of small New York-based wine importer VOS Selections, stepped forward.

He became the face of the fight to overturn Trump’s sweeping tariffs — and he won, in a case decided by the Supreme Court (SC).

Schwartz initially hesitated to take on the role, he told CNN in an interview after the verdict. “It was one thing to join the case, but then to be the lead plaintiff really gave me pause,” he said.

He stepped into that role after a family member connected him with the Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian-leaning nonprofit public-interest law firm.

The Liberty Justice Center was preparing to challenge the unprecedented use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to unilaterally impose the tariffs.

After speaking with dozens of other small businesses, the group selected Schwartz as the lead plaintiff.

With corporate America largely absent from the fight, Schwartz said he felt like the “last line of defense” in trying to stop tariffs he viewed as a grave abuse of executive power and a threat to his family-run business.

On April 14, 2025, the Liberty Justice Center filed the case titled VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump. It was eventually consolidated with similar cases filed by 12 states and Learning Resources, an educational supply company.

Schwartz ultimately prevailed, with the SC ruling that Trump’s sweeping tariffs were illegal.

But the victory came at a personal cost. “I am under constant attack through text and email, and I can’t stop it,” he said. “It’s a little ugly. I guess it could be uglier. We keep our doors locked at the office.”